Aerovias HC-BAE – 18. January 1986

Date

18. January 1986

Location

Santa Elena, Guatemala

C/N

40

Model

Caravelle III

Airline

Aerovias

Registration

HC-BAE

Occupants

6/6 + 87/87

Aircraft history

HC-BAE c/n 40 Caravelle 6N, made its first flight onJune 1st 1960 and was delivered to Alitalia 9 days later as I-DAXI named “Antares”. In 1962 the plane was converted to series 6N standards. In June 1975 SAETA bought the plane and registered it HC-BAE it was leased to Aerovias in September 1985.

Accident description

Due to the increasing number of tourists that visit Guatemala Aerovias chartered a Caravelle from SAETA. 87 passengers boarded the plane on January 18th 1986 at 7:00 local time. The aircraft took off 25 minutes later, bound for St. Elena, 250 north of Guatemala. The aircraft was on final approach when the controller lost contact with the plane. Some hours later the burning wreck of the airliner was found 8km north of the airport – it was soon evident that all 93 occupants lost their lives in this tragic crash. The exact cause of the accident could never be determined but it is possible that the pilots lost orientation in the cloudy conditions and collided with a hill – Santa Elena did not have an ILS approach.